WWE Wrestlepalooza Review – 09.20.25

It has been a big day of wrestling already with AEW’s All Out. If there is an AEW show, there must also be a WWE show and here we are with Wrestlepalooza. I don’t know if you’ve heard (they’ve only mentioned it 6,048,482 times) but this is the first WWE PLE of the ESPN era.

Personally, I’m watching via Disney+ thanks to the three-service combo. By this logic, AJ Lee is a Disney Princess.

Let’s get into this show! For those of you who are new to reading my reviews, welcome. I do this every Monday night! I don’t do star ratings. I’ll tell you how I liked it. It’s up to you to form your own opinions and ratings. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of star ratings from others. Maybe some letter grades!

The War & Treaty perform “God Bless America,” something they’ve done numerous times in WWE. The U.S. is certainly a country!

Then, Now, Forever, TOGETHER – but a new version!

We’re in Indianapolis, Indiana. Michael Cole talks sports as the arrivals are brought to you by Wingstop. The Usos are here and they’re together! The Vision walk in as does the duo of CM Punk and AJ Lee.Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer get a split-screen entrance, as do Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. They’re all here!

Xfinity presents Wrestlepalooza! The arena lights dim and our opening video plays, highlighting sports and ESPN. Triple H does the voiceover because he’s the only person who does that now. We get a clip of Vince McMahon talking to the camera in 1980s WWF which is certainly something. Pyro explodes in the arena as we look at other times when wrestling has crossed over into ESPN coverage like Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania, Dennis Rodman in WCW, and of course Stephanie McMahon’s modern-day ESPN show. It’s long and overly dramatic, but I get it. “Sports is entertainment,” says Triple H. This was all set to “Renegade” by STYX.

Triple H is center ring as our video ends. He welcomes us to Wrestlepalooza in many words as pyro blasts. We’re in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Michael Cole and Wade Barrett welcome us from ringside. Welcome back, Wade. Cole says this night is for all the WWE talent – “WWE has arrived!” Well, finally. A truck pulls up backstage and yes, of course it is Pat McAfee. Pat gets the Indiana welcome. He has no facial hair, and I think he might have before, but I’m not researching back that far. Pat joins the commentary team and Cole is happy that his BFF is here. The crowd gives him a “McAfee” chant.

John Cena vs Brock Lesnar

Brock gets the first entrance. This match is brought to you by VeBetter, which is a site that apparently lets you earn rewards for doing good things. Meanwhile, here’s Brock in a match. Cena enters with a sea of children in matching Cena outfits because he is for sure a good guy. Tonight’s city farewell gear is yellow. I make jokes, but Cena being for the kids is always amazing. The great Alicia Taylor gives John his extended intro as I’m sure she will do for all of these remaining appearances. Paul Heyman interrupts and storms the ring, high-fiving Brock and doing the Brock intro, then disappears.

Brock attacks first, beating John around for a while. He whips Cena so hard into the turnbuckles that Cena collapses. He scoops Cena up for a British Bulldog-style powerslam right onto the giant Papa John’s logo. The suplexes begin, the first sending Cena to the mat and the outside. Lesnar hooks on a bearhug. Cena muscles out and tries for an AA, but Lesnar drops him with a clothesline. Suplex. Cena is able to hit a series of four shoulder blocks to take Brock down, then hits three Attitude Adjustments. This gets him a two count.

You can’t see me – Cena runs into a F5 and then a second F5. He lands a third as Brock is incredibly red. A “let’s go Cena” chant picks up as Brock lands a fourth F5 and we see some kids looking sad in the crowd. Cena struggles up and Brock hits a fifth F5. He picks up Cena for a sixth and lands it as well, finally covering Cena for a three. Well, alright. There’s a fan with a “he shouldn’t be here & we all know why” sign.

Brock grabs the referee and F5’s him, tossing him out of the ring before giving Cena another F5. A child is crying. Another child is crying. Why doesn’t Brock care about the children??

Brock Lesnar pins John Cena. That was something that happened! It was certainly a Cena-Brock greatest hits but in an abbreviated form, complete with finishing spamming. It wasn’t particularly good. Who will step to Brock next, questions Wade. Gee golly I can’t wait to find out, I hope he spends a year hunting elk and carving tables out of oak trees before we find out. Cena walks out defeated as the crowd chants “thank you Cena.”

Commercials! 3:30 of them!

WrestleMania is presented by Papa John’s! Go to the Wrestlepalooza Superstore in Indianapolis for merchandise! It’s a Fanatics Experience!

Tonight we… celebrate Hulk Hogan? Oh dear. There are new Hulkamania Forever cans of Real American Beer, which our commentary team toast to Pat with as we focus on a section of fans in Hulk shirts they definitely were not given to wear for a camera shot.

We look back at the preshow with L.A. Knight being named guest referee for the Usos-Vision match.

Jimmy & Jey Uso vs Bron Breakker & Big Bronson Reed (with Paul Heyman)

Our special guest referee is L.A. Knight, wearing a referee tank top under his vest. This match is presented by Aires, a device that keeps your cell phones from transmitting EMF to your brain or something that sounds like a real thing, sure. The Usos enter through the crowd to Jey’s theme and yeet as they do. Big Jim has a mic and asks for the music to be cut, asking Indianapolis if they’re ready to party. He tells the crowd to pull every cell phone out and turn their flashlights on “to show ESPN how WWE gets down.” Well, if I have learned anything in the last two minutes, the arena is practically about to collapse from all the unprotected phones shooting radioactivity everywhere. Bron and Bronson have late-era Rick Steiner-style leather jackets with spikes. Bronson argues with Knight.

Main Event Jey and Big Bronson start us off. Usos work with quick tags early, super kicking down Bronson. Big Jim runs into a back elbow which gives Bron a chance to tag in and the fans to bark. Reed grabs a chair outside and Jimmy grabs it from him, Knight turning his head because he likes Jimmy. Jey splashes the Brons on the outside as referee L.A. begins the count. With Bron tagging in, he slides out and nails Jimmy with a running shoulder tackle. Bronson grabs another chair and smacks Jimmy with it, Knight letting it go. The fans chant for tables, so Bronson starts to pull one out before pushing it back under the ring for the fans to boo.

Bronson sets a chair up in corner ropes and tags in Bron as they continue the heat session on Jimmy. Bronson works over Jimmy for a bit. Bron takes his turn again and they do a Steiners top-rope bulldog for a two-count on Jimmy. Cool to see them use that. Jimmy knocks Bronson into that corner chair and gets the hot tag to Jey. The fans are feeling Jey as he takes Bron down with a corner hip check. Jey crossbodies Bron for a two as Wade declares that victory is imminent. Is it though? Jimmy pulls a table out – the Slim Jim Table! – and the Brons immediately take advantage, setting it up in the corner after attacking each Uso. Jey superkicks out of things and both men hit the 1D on Bron for a two. Bronson tries for a moonsault and misses, so Jimmy swantons on him runs right into a Bron spear. Bron turns around into a Jey spear and Jey nails the Uso Splash for a two. Jey argues with L.A. about the count speed though it was fine. Reed and Knight get into it on the outside, so Jey dives onto Bronson and Wade questions if Jey was aiming at Knight.

As they argue, Paul slides a chair in. Jey almost nails Knight with said chair but pulls his swing. Uso smacks Bron with the chair and his own forehead just starts flowing blood – did something fly off the chair and cut him? I don’t know. I rewound and still couldn’t figure it out. Bron spears both Usos through the Slim Jim Table and sets up Jey for the Tsunami.

Bronson Reed pins Jey Uso, The Vision defeats The Usos. This was fine. If you’ve seen Monday Night Raw in the last three months, you’ve mostly seen this minus the sudden blood. It was fine. Just fine.

The celebrities are here! The War and Treaty are still here! Burke Magnus, the ESPN President of Content is here! The Club 520 Podcast is here! I’m sure a lot of podcasts are there. Tyrese Haliburton, 2x NBA All-Star, is here as he always is when WWE stuff comes to town. Celebrities – they love WWE! These were all celebrities! That’s what they tell us.

Drew McIntyre is warming up backstage.

WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton is ringside. This Friday, she’ll face Jade Cargill and Nia Jax. In three weeks, she could be facing the winner of this match in a Crown Jewel match.

WWE Women’s World Title: Stephanie Vaquer vs Iyo Sky

As Stephanie enters, we greet Marcelo Rodriguez and Jerry Soto at the Spanish announce table. Both women get good responses for their entrances. We’re battling for the title vacated by Naomi. This match is brought to you by Old Spice – men, please wear deodorant to go watch women wrestle!

Some fun tie-ups to start with the women starting the match on the same page as the fans trade chants for them. Iyo headstands out of a leglock and locks on her own headlock. Both women almost take out the cameraman before trading pins, but that’s what he gets for standing on the ring apron. Stephanie tries for the Devil’s Kiss but Iyo spins out. We’re very evenly matched here as both women are able to work their way around each other’s moves.

Stephanie gets the first big advantage of the match, dropping a leg and working Iyo’s arm. Michael Cole reminds us that Iyo’s mind has been running hard with the drama going on in her life with Asuka and Kairi Sane. Stephanie locks Iyo into a nasty looking knee to the back though Iyo rolls through and makes it her own. Iyo blocks Stephanie in the corner and springs in with a beautiful missile dropkick, doing the head point with the crowd and then dropping Stephanie on the outside with a suicide dive. As Steph tries to fight back in the ring, Iyo leaps out and tries for a sunset flip to the outside – Vaquer counters and stomps Iyo before springboarding off the top rope and onto her. We’re picking it up now.

“This is awesome” chant as Stephanie crossbodies Iyo again from the top rope. Both on their knees, the women trade right hands and fight to their feet. Stephanie is able to suplex Iyo and now it is time for the Devil’s Kiss, or so she thought as Iyo stops it again with a stomp. Iyo locks on the crossface but Stephanie fights out, so Iyo gives her a hell of a knee. Stephanie wrenches the knee of Iyo in the corner and tries for the SVB, but Iyo fights out .Iyo rolls Stephanie into a two and then drops Stephanie with a kick. These two are GOING for it.

Iyo hits the Bullet Train in the corner and stomps over Stephanie, bouncing up top but favoring her leg. Stephanie lifts the boots as Iyo tries to moonsault her. Stephanie wrenches Iyo’s knee on the ropes again and this time succeeds with the Devil’s Kiss. She lands the SVB, Iyo kicks out at 2.75. Vaquer goes up and Iyo rolls out of the way, climbing up to counter as she continues to favor her leg. Iyo hits a Spanish Fly on Stephanie from the top but can’t capitalize due to the knee. Iyo takes off her kneepads to hit a more impactful Bullet Train, though I imagine that can’t help her knee? Iyo hits a running knee and pulls Stephanie in position for the Over the Moonsault. Stephanie rolls out of the way as Iyo knocks her exposed knee against the mat. Stephanie goes up and hits a wild, gorgeous version of the Spinal Tap and gets her pinfall.

Stephanie Vaquer pins Iyo Sky to win the WWE Women’s World Title. Stephanie cries as she is handed the belt. Fantastic match. Of course it was. Go watch this one. They bow to each other after the match and hug, Iyo putting the belt on Stephanie’s shoulder. Stephanie celebrates with her dad at ringside. Pat signs out for the night which is a shame for people who want to hear Pat’s voice. Oh well.

Wrestlepalooza is presented by Prime Hydration, the official hydration drink of WWE. It’s at Walmart!

Cody Rhodes is on his bus with Tyrese Haliburton. Tyrese has been busy today. Papa John’s! Cole thanks Pat for coming back.

Patrick Talty, the Indiana Sports Corp President is ringside. He gets booed.

CM Punk & AJ Lee vs WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins & WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch

Seth and Becky enter first, being lowered to his theme song in matching purple robes as they are lowered on a lift surrounded by flames. They look very cool, actually. The fans sing along as they do. This match is presented by Cricket. Make sure you put the Aires thing on your Cricket phone or you’re doomed.

“Cult of Personality” plays and Punk appears in a jacket that says “AJ’s Husband.” After declaring it clobbering time, AJ’s music lays in and she skips out to quite the noise. Both couples had their themes blend into each other tonight and it was a cool effect. The fans chant for “AJ Lee” to start, Seth covering Becky’s eyes. AJ wants to start and Becky declines, so Punk comes in to fight Seth. We are in mixed tag rules, which means men with men and women with women. Becky tags in after all and shoves Punk, mocking him and getting herself a “GTS” chant. Punk tags in AJ and here we go. Becky punches Punk and runs outside, AJ chases and Becky tags Seth to make the men legal again. Becky and Seth kiss outside, Punk does a suicide dive onto Seth and tosses him into the announce table. Seth gets thrown over the barricade and Punk dives after him, then chases him back into the ring.

Punk fights Seth to the corner and AJ takes an opportunity to choke Seth behind the referee’s back. As Seth is distracted, he walks into an atomic drop and a chop. Rollins fights out of a GTS attempt and shoves Punk into Becky’s knee, giving him a chance to work Punk over. As Seth distracts the ref, Becky shoves Punk into the steel stairs. Seth mocks AJ as he works over Punk in the ring, AJ giving us “distraught.” Becky offers Seth another kiss and Seth chokes Punk across the ropes, Becky again smacking Seth as Jessika Carr turns to face Seth. Seth drops a leg across Punk’s neck and AJ is jumping up and down, begging for a tag.

Seth has a huge red welt. Punk and Seth trade suplex attempts for a solid minute before Punk finally gets it, finally giving us another hot tag attempt. Punk cuts it off as they’re going to make us wait. Punk finally gets the hot tag but the referee doesn’t see it, so Rollins and Becky double team Punk. As the referee pushes AJ back to the apron, Seth picks Becky up in a military press and tosses her at Punk who moves. Oops. Punk dodges Seth in the corner and leaps for AJ, but Becky pulls AJ off the apron to prevent the tag again. Seth mocks the AJ skipping but is picked up a GTS but unfortunately Punk is too spent to take advantage of it.

Becky runs in to stop the tag and grab Punk’s leg, but Punk blows her a kiss and falls into a tag to AJ. The crowd is here for it as AJ smiles, finally in. Thesz Press and she pounds away on Becky as the fans chant for her. AJ lays in boots in the corner and a splash, then goes up for punches in the corner. Becky tries to powerbomb out, AJ ranas out and goes up for a crossbody for a two. The fans chant “you still got it” as Becky slaps AJ who slaps her back several times. Seth runs in to stop the slapping so he gets several of his own. Becky tries for a Manhandle Slam, AJ counters out and takes her down. AJ and Punk do a Sliced Bread combo off of Seth and onto Becky for a two. They deliver stereo bulldogs and Shining Wizards before AJ rolls Becky into a two.

Becky locks an armbar onto AJ, who counters out with a pin. AJ spins into a Black Widow but can’t totally lock it in. Punk stops Rollins and locks on a Sharpshooter. Rollins escapes and superkicks Punk, then pulls AJ off and she locks it on him instead. Becky grabs AJ out of that for a Beckspoloder. Seth and Becky hit couples’ Pedigrees and both kick out. “This is awesome.” Seth yells that the crowd is here because of them and they mock the GTS. Becky and Seth set up AJ and CM into GTS, Punk slips under and clotheslines Rollins out. As Becky watches that, AJ hits a Beckspoloder on Lynch. Rollins grabs AJ’s leg and pulls her to the mat, which brings Punk in for a Stomp on Rollins. Becky slaps Punk again who finally grabs her arm. She tries to kick him and he catches that, leg sweeping her. As Rollins distracts, she locks a Sharpshooter on Punk. Punk rolls through and turns it into a Sharpshooter of his own. I didn’t expect Punk with a Sharpshooter on Becky tonight but here we are. Seth runs in and Pedrigrees Punk and then stomps him. AJ stomps Seth, Becky Manhandles AJ for a two count. Chaos here.

Seth and Punk are trading blows again, their women come to pull them apart and go at each other instead. Punk and Rollins join them and we’re all throwing hands. The heels are tossed outside. Seth is tossed over the U.S. announce table and AJ takes a look at the Spanish table, pulling its lid off and clearing the monitors. Punk does the same for the U.S. table and Cole wonders how they’re going to do their job as if he hasn’t had this happen 604 times in his career. All four are on announce tables, Becky and Seth both fighting out of move attempts. Punk gets Rollins on his shoulders, Becky tosses AJ from their table through the men. Becky tosses AJ in the ring and tries for another Manhandle Slam, but AJ reverses it into another Black Widow. With Seth out, Becky has no choice but to tap.

AJ Lee makes Becky Lynch submit, CM Punk and AJ Lee defeat Lynch & Seth Rollins. A bit messy at times but ultimately a lot of fun, especially after we finally got the AJ tag. AJ took a lot and looked good once she warmed up. There was more intergender action than I expected and it was fun.

WrestleMania returns in 2026 to Vegas. Then it goes somewhere else which we’re not discussing tonight!

Whatley American Vodka is the official vodka of WWE. Drake’s “Nokia” is the official theme song of Wrestlepalooza. The Wrestlepalooza post-show will be presented by Mike’s Harder.

The gong hits and Undertaker is here with his “American Badass” theme and his motorcycle. He stops in front of a clapping Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan. I have a theory that Undertaker’s “hair” is sewn into the bandana he wears under his hat. He grabs a mic and asks if the seat next to Steph is open and climbs into the crowd to sit with her. They do some “comedy” and he tells her that he is inducting her as the first member of the 2026 Hall of Fame. She will be the second person with the last name McMahon in the Hall assuming others aren’t announced between now and then.

WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes vs Drew McIntyre

This match is presented by Minute Maid. I have no beef with Minute Maid because they sent me a swag box. I don’t frequent SmackDown so I’m a little less into this one, but I do like both men. I feel like this is on last because we’re getting a big “welcome to ESPN” surprise. Drew gets the early advantage, working Cody’s neck. Cody’s able to dive onto Drew outside, driving him into the remains of the U.S. announce table. Cody tries a second suicide dive and Drew catches him, slinging him into the ring post and then the Spanish announce table.

The fight continuing outside, Cody is bounced off the apron. Drew grabs Cody and does an Alabama Slam onto the STEEL stairs, rolling him in for a two count. Cody’s able to superplex Drew and Wade reminds us that Cody’s head hits the mat too and that’s why he can’t take advantage. Cody finds his way up for a Disaster Kick and a Cody Cutter. Drew knees out of Cross Rhodes and chops Cody on the top rope, delivering a White Noise from the top for a two.

Cody fights back again, locking Drew in a figure-four on top of the Papa John’s logo. Drew slings Cody towards the ref, who slides out of the ring to avoid it and takes a long time to get back to count Drew’s pin attempt. Wade is aghast. Cody hits a Cross Rhodes but can only get a two. Cody tries for another Cody Cutter but Drew slings him to the mat, then leaping over the top onto him. Drew hits a Claymore for a 2.5 count. They fight outside again, and the referee stops Drew from kicking Cody into the announce table’s video tron, but Drew does it anyway and injures his leg when he misses. I’m not sure why that in particular would be illegal when they can bounce him through any other part of the announce table, but okay.

Cody jumps into a Glasgow Kiss in the ring and Drew tries for a Claymore but his leg gives out. Cody hits a Super Cutter and Cross Rhodes for a three. Cody retains.

Cody Rhodes pins Drew McIntyre to retain the WWE Championship. It had good moments and was technically fine, but the referee stuff was a bit odd and Drew again came out of a match looking dumb.

The credits roll and we move into the Post-Show. End scene. No big surprise.

Overall, it was a pretty good show. It started rough, but it started to pick up with the women. I’d recommend going back to watch that as well as the mixed tag match. The other tag was adequate but didn’t feel like anything outside of our normal Raw stuff.